The Dept. of Health and Human Services should abandon its plan to enforce a switch to the ICD-10 diagnostic code sets for billing patient services because of redundancies and unnecessary intricacies in the new system, Sen. Tom Coburn, MD (R, Okla.), stated in a policy position paper.

Congress should hold hearings on ICD-10, wrote Dr. Coburn and his co-author, Jason Fodeman, MD, a senior fellow in health care studies at the Pacific Research Institute, a think tank devoted to free-market solutions. In the meantime, HHS should evaluate ICD-10 and halt further implementation.

The department already has proposed delaying the deadline for switching to the new code sets from the current ICD-9 standard until October 2014. Current statute would mandate that physician practices and facilities upgrade to the new code sets by October 2013.

“Patients would be better served if doctors could devote less time and energy spent transitioning and learning ICD-10 codes and devote more time to patient care,” the May 29 report said. “With a plethora of new mandates and regulations under the health care reform law, physicians and hospitals currently have a lot on their plate.”

The American Medical Association has urged federal officials to delay the ICD-10 implementation deadline at least until October 2015. The AMA wants HHS to conduct a cost-benefit analysis on the financial impact of the transition and evaluate whether other diagnosis code sets would be more appropriate.

Source: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/06/18/gvbf0618.htm